Epic Games' Fortnite recruiting alpha testers

Survey hints at free-to-play potential.

By
Shunal Doke

Epic Games is looking for warm bodies to help flesh out Fortnite, its cartoonish, multiplayer zombie-survival-type experience when the title enters alpha testing some time soon.

To facilitate the call to arms, Epic has issued a survey that touches on all the usual suspects: gaming frequency, duration, genre, et cetera. In order to register to be part of the process when Fortnite's alpha kicks into gear, simply answer the questions and begin waiting patiently.

Amid the standard survey questions, the topic of free-to-play surfaces several times, including how many and often the user plays and whether they have purchased in-game stuff via microtransactions. In addition, the mention of Twitch streaming seems to indicate an emphasis on community involvement.

This all seems to line up fairly neatly with our earlier predictions when we caught the first details on Fortnite at Comic-Con 2012. The title's cooperative resource-scavenging, base-building, zombie-surviving motif alongside the cartoonish aesthetic lends itself perfectly to the kind of accessibility that goes hand in hand with free-to-play offerings.

Fortnite was announced way back in 2011; the new IP is exclusive to PC, at least for now, though next-gen consoles could also be in the cards.